This person says she doesnt respect me for writing my blog, and I say…..Who cares? I dont write my blog to gain anyones respect. I write my blog for me. This is a place where I gather MY thoughts about stuff that I see, about stuff I go thru.

And quite honestly, how can I respect someone who thinks camping out on our city streets will mean ANYTHING?

Id much rather respect someone who works (even at McDs) and struggles everyday like I do.

You know whos respect I DO value? Those who see that I could go on disability due to my illness, but instead, choose to drive myself to Baltimore everyday to be a productive member of society.

Hi Sheila. Thanks for bringing this dialogue to our Google Group – as no one from the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network contacted us, and the Fox reporters never mentioned to us who we had allegedly displaced, we really had no idea what was going on.

First, the results: I’ve gotten in touch with our legal team, and we’re working to make sure that we’re aware of upcoming permits in the square. We’ve applied for one, but unfortunately haven’t be given one so far, so we need to be on top of this. Also, I sent the following message to the PCAN:

* * *

To whom it may concern,

I work on the media team at Occupy Baltimore. I was very upset and
embarrassed to see that our movement unintentionally displaced a vigil
for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network here in McKeldin Square
earlier this month.

I offer my sincerest apologies, and assure you that no disrespect was
intended. As far as I know, we were unaware that your group was
planning an event in the square, let alone that you had applied for
and received a permit. If we had known, I’m sure we could have worked
something out.

We are a very new movement, we are run completely by overworked
volunteers (most of us have jobs as well!), and sometimes we drop the
ball. Rest assured that plans are underway to determine whether any
other organizations have applied for legal permits in the area so that
this doesn’t happen again.

Again, I send my apologies. If you don’t mind, please forward this
message to the local chapter of your organization with my contact
info.

– The PCAN organizers did not get to speak for themselves. Their only direct quote on the controversy was in response to an offer to share the space, where they said “we thank them for that, but we wanted this to be just for us.” Does this sound in line with the vitriol that the Fox news team was putting forth? Not really. If the organizers had anything extremely negative to say, I can guarantee you Fox would have aired that instead. In real journalism, you let the news make itself, and you have lots of quotes from the people involved.

– If PCAN was looking for a private, quiet, and somber space, then McKeldin was not the right spot. We picked it partially because it’s so crowded and busy. No mention of that reality by Fox “reporters”

– Fox did not tell Occupy participants who the displaced group was. Instead, they told us what they needed in order to get their “gotcha” piece. Typically in real journalism, you don’t withhold information before interviewing someone about a topic – you want them to be well-informed so they can present their side. Despite getting lots of words from one of us, this made it impossible for them to get our side of the story.

– It doesn’t look like PCAN were the ones that contacted Fox – typically if this is the case, the story mentions at some point “PCAN contacted Fox45 with news that…” I’m sure they were happy to have their message get out there, but it’s unlikely that they were the ones to contact Fox with the “controversy”.

– OB has a history with Fox45. The “news” crew also tried a similar story when they brought a woman on site who claimed she was raped on-site and that someone stole $6000 that she had in cash on her. No one had ever seen this woman or her boyfriend on-site before (although her boyfriend was identified as a local drug dealer), and she was unable to identify the alleged assaulter, or even tell anyone what happened, nor did she ever use the term “rape” in the Fox45 piece. Her grounds for the charges were that she had sore buttocks after sleeping in one of our tents. She had gone to the police, who determined that these were not grounds for a rape charge, and THEN Fox45 picked up the story – leaving out all of these details. Fox45 “reporters” have also physically pushed OB participants in order to get into a private tent to film a couple who were arguing (not violently). Fox45 “reporters” also aired footage of that same drug dealer none of us had ever seen on-site before expressing his “concern” that there was drug use, who led reporters to a clearly manufactured scene of needles and tie-offs at the edge of a tent.

Add it all together, and it looks to me like Fox cynically took a misunderstanding and used it to try to further discredit the Occupy movement. To that point, they couldn’t even be bothered to get the group’s name right: it’s the Pancreatic Cancer ACTION Network.

Again, Sheila, thanks for bringing this to our attention. To your credit, you came ready for a dialogue, while Fox45 came for a gotcha piece and then bounced – as usual. Thank you for allowing us to have our side of the story out!

Yes, that was likely exactly what Fox45 was going for. I know I’ve thanked you elsewhere, but I’d just like to re-iterate how awesome you are for engaging us in a dialogue and coming up with an amazing solution. Props to you!